ESPN moved McFarland (l) to the booth for the final “MNF” regular-season game on Christmas Eveespn images
Booger McFarland will shed the sideline cart he used during “MNF” this season and be in the broadcast booth for ESPN’s broadcast of the Colts-Texans Wild Card game on Saturday, a move that will lead to speculation that he will join Joe Tessitore and Jason Witten in the booth next season. ESPN moved McFarland to the booth for the final “MNF” regular-season game on Christmas Eve, citing weather conditions as a reason for making that move. ESPN was said to be so pleased with how the three-man booth worked for that Broncos-Raiders game, it decided to stick with the three-man booth for its only NFL playoff telecast. While ESPN has made no formal decision for the booth next season, it appears likely that McFarland’s sideline cart will not be around (John Ourand, THE DAILY).
ANOTHER CRACK AT IT: SI.com's Gary Gramling wrote he is "glad that the Tessitore-Witten-Booger team is getting a second year together." ESPN "patched together a college play-by-play guy with one analyst with no experience and another relegated to a Rascal scooter for reasons still unknown." Gramling: "I remember being fairly unimpressed with Cris Collinsworth early in his broadcasting career, and over 20 years or so he's developed into the best analyst in sports." The "MNF" trio "can get better" (SI.com, 12/30).
